Traffic light holder



March 15, 1960 H. c. PFAFF, JR 2,923,641

TRAFFIC LIGHT HOLDER Original Filed Oct. 16, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY March 15, 1960 H. c. PFAFF, JR 2,928,641

TRAFFIC LIGHT HOLDER Original Filed Oct. 16, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Hew y 6 J1." BY

Unitid States ent This invention relates to devices used for connecting traffic light'units to horizontal supporting frames which, in turn, are conventionally secured to vertically disposed poles for the control of approaching lines of traffic.

The object of this invention is toprovide a traffic light .unit of-novel structural-features which enable it to be .adjusted to'present the traffic-light units at precisely the desired angles. 1

The invention is particularly adapted to enable the workman to connect the light units to the supporting frame at the point of installation rapidly and accurately.

It has been found in practice that the present-inven- Etion-"enables municipal employees and others who install traffic control units to set the lights up at precisely the.

desired angles with little loss of time.

The present applicationis a-divisionof my application filed October 16, 1951, under Serial No. 251,475, now abandoned.

Therecited and other advantageous'objects, whichwill appear from the drawings and from the description hereinafter, are accomplished by the structures of my invention, of which embodiments are illustrated in the drawings. It will be apparent, from a consideration ofsaid drawings and the following description, that the inven- :-tion may be embodied in other forms, and such other forms as come within the scope of the appended claims.

-:In the drawings:

:Fig. l-is'a side elevational view of a trafiic light holder embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal view, taken on line 33 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the corner bracket sections embodying the invention,

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a complementary bracket section,

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view, taken on line 6'-6 of Fig- 5,

Fig. 7 is a partly fragmentary top plan view of a traffic light holder embodying another form of the invention, and

Fig. 8 is an assembled view of a corner bracket embodying the invention.

In Fig. 1, the traffic light units A and B are shown secured to the frame 10 which is horizontally connected to the pole 11, by means of suitable clamp members 12. A tie rod 13 may be secured at its opposite ends to the pole and frame as a supplementary or auxiliary means of connection. Pursuant to the present invention, one or more light units A, B may be secured to the pole parallel to or at an angle to the axial line a of the frame 10 (Fig. 3).

This end is attained by the utilization, pursuant to the invention, of corner brackets (2942 inclusive, in Fig. 3) for connecting the trafiic light units A, B to the frame. One or more 1 bars 20, 21 are slidably secured to the horizontal portions of the frame, the 1" bar 21 ICC 2 beinga dapte d to connect the trafiic'liglit units at one-end to the frame, the otherends of said units being connected to the outer end of the frame. By thepresent invention, the traffic light units are mounted on the frame in such fashion as to support only their own weight; that is, the trafiic light units do not carry the weight of the frame or other parts of the traffic light holder. The 1 bars 20, 21 are provided with apertured ends 22, 23, 24, '25

'to receive the horizontal frame 10, and are provided with set screws 26 (Fig. 2) or the like tofix the position of the bars on the frame. It will be appreciated that the bar 20 may be-dispensed with entirely, pursuant tothe invention, the bar 21 being used in connection with'the invention, the bar 20 constituting simply an auxiliary strengthening device which may be dispensed with if so desired, and being so disposed along the'fram'e "as 'to attain that end. A pair of internally threaded horizontal frame arms 27, 28 are secured to the frame in spaced relation for connection of trafi'ic light units thereto, one of said arms being secured, for example, to the 1 bar 21 while the other .is secured to the outer end 10a of the frame.

The corner brackets of the invention are connected to said arms 27, 28 and to the light units A and B, as will bepresently described. A description of one corner bracket will suffice for all, which are of identical .construction. Reference is made to the bracket '29 (Fig. 3') which comprises the bracket halves or sections 33,.34, pivotally connected as at 35 (Fig. 8). The bracket'sec- :tion 33 comprises a stem 40 which may be externally threaded for engagement with the horizontal frame 27, and a cup .portion 41 unitary Withsaid stem and comprising parallel spaced fiat side walls 42, 43, and the curved end walls 44, 45. The other bracket section, 34, is so constructed as to receive the section 33 and enable the same to be pivotally connected thereto as at 35, said bracket section 34 comprising a stem portion 48 which is preferably internally threaded as at 49 for engagement with the arm 36 of the light unit. A cupshaped extension 50 is secured to the stem portion '48 and comprises the flat parallel side walls 51, 52 and the curved end walls 53, 54 which define an opening to receive the cup end 41 of the bracket section 33. The curved end walls 44, 45 of the first mentioned bracket section 33 define, with the stem portion 40 thereof, op-

posed shoulders 55, 56, which are adapted to engage therefore the limits of angular range to which the sections may be adapted for the purpose of properly aligning the light units A, B on theframe 10.

In operation, the workman would assemble the parts, as shown, for example, in Fig. 3, and then by tightening bolts 65, for example (Fig. 8), which may be passed freely through openings 67 in the section 34 for threaded engagement with the internally threaded apertures 68 in,

the sections 33, lock the parts at precisely the angular disposition desired. The arrangement shown in Figs. 4 and 8 enables the use of two short bolts which will be threaded into internally threaded apertures 68, 69, of the side walls 42, 43 of the bracket section 33. However, a single bolt might be used in place of the double 'bolt arrangement described, if so desired.

It will be appreciated that i the arrangement above described is adaptable to a wide range of different angles. However, in an extreme case, as is illustrated for example in Fig. 7, where the angle at which the light unit B is to be disposed is a invention may be used to secure an end of the unit B to the frame 10, the other end .of said unit ,B being con; nected to the frame jbyan extended arm 61 which is secured at one end to arm 27, a bracket 62 being slidably disposed on the extended arm 61 at the point at which it is desired to fix the position of the trafii c unit 3.. Set screws 63 or thelike may be used to secure the. bracket 62 to the arm 61 at that position. The bracket62 may engage an arm 64 secured to the unit B in any desired or convenient manner, or may be otherwise connected to said unit for the purpose mentioned. It will be apparcut that in the use of the. form of invention illustrated in Fig. 7, one unitA could besecured to the frame in parallel relation thereto as bymeans of the brackets of the invention or by standard fittings S. The other unit B large number of degrees from the I axis of the unit A, one of the corner brackets of the may besecured by utilizing one of the corner brackets of o o the invention to connect one end of the vunit B, the other end of the unit B being secured to the extended arm 61 which definesan arc on a radius drawn from the pivot point 35 of the corner bracket 32. The invention is adapted to secure not only two. light units A, B, to the frame, but also may be used in other applications where it is desired to effect angular relations.

Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim, as

new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for suspending a traffic light unit comprising a pair of generally straight parallel portions united at adjacent ends to form a generally U-shaped frame,

means for securing the other ends of said parallel por tions to a trafiic pole so that said portions lie generally horizontal, a bar extending between and secured to the parallel horizontal portions of said frame and spaced from the united ends thereof, bracket members secured to the bar and to the united end of said frame and respectively secured to said unit to suspend the latter from said frame, each of said bracket members comprising a stem portion secured to and extending from the bar and the united end of the frame and a stem portion secured to and extending from one end of the light unit, complementary extensions on said stem portions, one of said extensions of each bracket member having substantially completely circular end walls secured to its stem portion and defining'therewith shouldered portions, the extension of each of the other of said stem portions comprising a w r a pair of side walls and end walls connecting the side walls adjacent-its stem portion and defining thercwithanopening to receive'the complementary extensions of the firstmentioned stern portions, the shouldered portions being adapted to contact the end walls of the second-mentioned extensions to limit movementbetween said complementary extensions, and means pivotally connecting together the bar and to the united end of said frame and respectively secured to said unit to suspend the latter from said framefea'ch of said bracket members comprising a stem portion secured to and extending from the bar and the united end of the frame and a stem portion secured to and extending from one end of the light unit, complementary curved extensions on said stem portions, one of said,

curved extensions of each of said bracket members havingan opening for reception of the complementary extensions of the other bracket member, each of said complementary extensions being slidably received and rotatable in its complementary first-mentioned curved extension for adjustment of the angular position of the lightunit on the frame, and complementary means on the curved extensions for locking them in predetermined adjusted relationship. a P a References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 321,425 Dyar July 7, 1885 559,066 Shickluna Apr. 28, 1896 680,077 Sabin Aug. 6, 1901 714,813 Mason Dec. 2, 1902 1,428,042 La Hodny Sept. 5, 1922 1,578,634 Borgmann Mar. 30, 1926 1,601,819 Ganster Oct. 5, 1926 1,842,224 -Wells Jan. 19, 1932 1,912,665 Sovatkin June 6, 1933 2,139,309

Linden Dec. 6, 1938 

